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July 3, 2010

Idiot of the Week: Sharron Angle

The problem with the Tea party, at least if you are a Republican, is that a candidate who can win a primary seems to have little chance of winning a general election against a competent opponent. Sharron Angle did such a thorough job sticking to conservative media prior to winning the Republican primary for senate in Nevada that she was totally unprepared for her first interview with a legitimate news organization. That came this week and has widely been regarded as disastrous.

In watching the interview, there were several moments of idiocy on display. Angle denies that she wants to privative Social Security, saying instead that she wants to "personalize" it but failing to explain what that means. She said that unemployment benefits have "spoiled" Americans, evidently oblivious to the economy her political ideology helped to create.

But the most notable concerned Angle's position on abortion. Actually, it wasn't so much her position as it was her inability to reconcile her position with her broader political philosophy. You see, she claims to oppose government regulation but then insists that she's pro life. It is almost as if she wants the federal government to stay out of abortion so that state governments can become far more involved in legislating her particular brand of Christian morality.

Angle has stated that she opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest. This is a fairly extreme position even within the so called "pro-life" crowd. Angle's justification for her position is telling. She believes that pregnancy in such cases is "God's plan." When pressed on this point by a conservative talk radio host who was interviewing her in January, Angle said:

You know, I'm a Christian and I believe that God has a plan and a purpose for each one of our lives and that he can intercede in all kinds of situations and we need to have a little faith in many things.

Wow! This is precisely the sort of Christian extremism that we need to keep out of Congress.